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Figured I’d start one of these threads to share my experiences with the community. I am no stranger to modifying cars, I have been fortunate to of enjoyed several high horsepower domestic cars, most recently my ‘22 Challenger Scat Pack, many euro cars (stage 2 X5, Audi A4, Audi TT stage 2), wife’s current daily is a GLC43 AMG. This among a few of the 20ish cars weve owned over the last 15 years.
i have also been intrigued by the IS350, the opportunity never really presented itself for the purchase and I always seemed to go with something a little quicker vs the IS line.
Most recently I was daily driving a Ram Sport and was modifying a ‘22 Challenger Scat Pack. As the auto world is in turmoil, I was fortunate to of sold my scat pack above mrsp to a local dealer (I ordered the car and paid under mrsp). I quickly knew I was not going to be satisfied with just a truck. I looked at a handful of new vehicles, Q50 Red Sport, A35 AMG, CLA 35 AMG and the IS350 (lots of YouTube and reading as the local dealer did not have inventory). The Q50 was an absolute riot and sounded great with the Nismo axleback, but it felt incredibly dated and too old manish, with the price around 70K cad I couldn’t justify the purchase. I thoroughly enjoyed pretty much all aspects of the A35 AMG and at the same price point of the Q50 I really wanted to act in it. It was quick enough in factory form, the interior is very modern, great tech and the adjustable exhaust and dampening suspension was superb. However, I was concerned with long term reliability and resale value. I was also not comfortable using this vehicle for work with the stigma owning a Benz 🤦♂️
I was in Saskatoon Canada for a business trip when I noticed their Lexus dealership had a new ‘23 Atomic Silver IS350 on the lot. I popped over in the evening and was finally able to drive one. I was a tad underwhelmed with the straight line performance but the overall look, and comfort won me over. The resale value and proven reliability of the brand was a big selling feature, and it was the cheapest of the bunch at around 61K Cad, I feel this was the most rounded vehicle for my needs. The next day I put a deposit down and flew out the next weekend to drive it home. During the week I began ordering some parts as I anticipated it wouldn’t stay stock for longer than a mere day or two.
i had the dealer ceramic tint the windows and protective wrap the front end as I do a lot of highway travel.
RSR AWD down springs were at my house before I was back with the IS, the day after picking up my car I did the spring swap to help close some of that nasty wheel gap!
A few days after the springs I had my Yonaka Axleback arrive, this is a very similar design as the Q300 / Tsudo. Yonaka is a Canadian Company in Ontario, pretty rare for parts to come within Canada so I was all over supporting them.
Fitment was 9/10, passenger muffler/tip hangs a touch lower than the drivers side. This seems to be a common issue with the F-Sport Performance exhaust, among others. Little zip tie trick on the hangers pushed it up to make it even.
soundwise, it’s super tame and very mature. Little to no drone in any gears. I was very satisfied with the overwall quality, look and sound.
Next up ditching this restrictive midpipe. Being AWD there wasn’t many options, I ended up with the Tsudo from SE Motorsports given the positive reviews in here. Unfortunately this midpipe has shot up a lot in price, many members were paying $250-325 for this midpipe just a few years ago. I ended up paying around $550usd and had it sent to North Dakota, I drove the 45 minutes south and picked it up and went back to work!
there wasn’t much to the install, fitment was perfect and the butt dyno definitely felt an improvement. Above 4000rpm this car comes alive. However there is pretty nasty drone around 1800-2100 rpm and excessive noise in the cabin when driving around the city, light to light. I have ordered a pair of larger Yonaka Resonators to have welded in replacement of the Tsudo Resonators.
Nice car sir, did you install the spring yourself? If you did and how hard to install them? I did install the f- sport suspension on my previous 07" IS 350 RWD, but not sure about the front axle since I have AWD now and want to lower my car too
Nice car sir, did you install the spring yourself? If you did and how hard to install them? I did install the f- sport suspension on my previous 07" IS 350 RWD, but not sure about the front axle since I have AWD now and want to lower my car too
Yes, I installed myself. I wouldn’t say it’s hard, little time consuming. I have done several spring, strut, shock and coilover installs over the years so I am pretty confident in doing the job. I also have a pretty wide selection of tools at home along with spring compressors.
if you’re somewhat mechanically inclined and have a buddy to help I would suggest taking a stab at it, I’m sure harbour freight has cheap spring compressors available.
Hi, Nice upgrades. I come from a very similar auto background like yourself. Traded 21 Mach1,490HP for my IS (RWD,8 speed). Not sure what lead me to the IS other than I wanted comfort and simplicity I guess. I too hope the performance will be enough but the good gas mileage and reliability are the plus side. Looks are up there too. I had a is500 lined up right next to mine but found it hard as the price was $20K more. Maybe I should have went that way? Figured I d give the Lexus brand a trial and then I can easily up grade to the 500IS or even an RCf? I ve been thru so many great cars that it sometimes blurs the mind, LOL.
Hi, Nice upgrades. I come from a very similar auto background like yourself. Traded 21 Mach1,490HP for my IS (RWD,8 speed). Not sure what lead me to the IS other than I wanted comfort and simplicity I guess. I too hope the performance will be enough but the good gas mileage and reliability are the plus side. Looks are up there too. I had a is500 lined up right next to mine but found it hard as the price was $20K more. Maybe I should have went that way? Figured I d give the Lexus brand a trial and then I can easily up grade to the 500IS or even an RCf? I ve been thru so many great cars that it sometimes blurs the mind, LOL.
haha yup, we have similar habits. Diggin’ the garage too. Any mods planned?
haha yup, we have similar habits. Diggin’ the garage too. Any mods planned?
Not really planning anything. I did ceramic coating (3 yr) and tints,... thought about LCA bushing to avoid tire wear but maybe 2023 s don t have that issue? I ll do all my own maintenance but usually don t keep them too long. I m tired of modding and then moving on, LOL. we ll see.
I had the yonaka resonators welded in where the tiny Tsudo resonators were. The drone has no doubt been reduced, however it is still too loud for my old ears. If this wasn’t a daily I’d be fine, but using this vehicle in a professional setting was just a bit too much for me. I put the factory axleback back on this morning, 1 week after the resonator swap.
I wish I would have tried the Tsudo midpipe with the factory axleback, I think this would have given me the perfect volume without spending a bunch of money on new resonators and professional install haha. with that said, once the PPE headers go on it should be perfect, sound wise for me!
I am also in Canada and purchased a 2023 IS350 AWD F-Sport 3 but for some reason, the F-Sport 3 doesn’t come with the rear spoiler. Did you add yours? I tried to order one but the dealer here cannot get them.
I am also in Canada and purchased a 2023 IS350 AWD F-Sport 3 but for some reason, the F-Sport 3 doesn’t come with the rear spoiler. Did you add yours? I tried to order one but the dealer here cannot get them.
I’m an F Sport 2, lip spoiler was on the car when I went to look at it, I assume it was shipped from Japan with it on.
09-21-23, 08:28 AM
‘23 IS350 AWD Daily
